In the area of water treatment, such as sewage or industrial waste water treatment, there is an ever-increasing need to remove undesirable and even toxic contaminants, such as bacteria and chemicals from water such that it can be used for the development of landscape and industrial cooling processes.
Presently various technologies in use for reducing various types of pollutants from wastewater are filtration and biological treatment, bioreactor membranes, reverse osmosis and nano-filtration membranes. However, these technologies are quite expensive and time consuming and often require pretreatment of wastewater prior to the cleanup treatment, especially reverse osmosis and nano-filtration, in which processes a great deal of concentrated wastewater is rejected, requiring other disposal methods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,908 to Monick et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses a treatment composition and method for removing a plurality of contaminants from a wastewater system in the form of a non-leachable sludge. The treatment composition comprises an alkali or alkaline carbonate; activated montmorrilonite; a catalyst, such as zirconium and polyelectrolyte; one or more flocculants, such as a metal salt and calcium oxide, lime, or calcium hydroxide; and bentonite. Additionally, the treatment composition may contain soda ash, lignite, and activated carbon. The treatment composition is introduced and mixed with the wastewater, which is then filtered to produce a sludge containing the contaminants in a non-leachable form.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,093 to Pirbazari et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses a wastewater treatment system in which biologically active particulate material mixed with wastewater is recirculated under turbulent conditions. The biomass is maintained at high concentration, and recirculation of the particles maintains the biological layer on the particles at a more active and efficient state would be the case without such recirculation. The system is particularly efficient, especially when the organic waste materials are slowly or relatively non-biodegradable, when the particulate material is adsorptive (as, for example are particles of activated carbon) and the recirculation system includes an ultrafilter. When combined with a pretreatment of either alum or ferric chloride with lime, the system is particularly suited for efficient and effective treatment of dairy wastes.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,678,268 to Smith et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses a method and apparatus for treating wastewater. The wastewater treatment system includes a bioreactor including activated carbon and a first biological population. The wastewater treatment system may also include a membrane bioreactor and/or a wet oxidation unit.
However, none of the above-discussed references discloses or suggests a cost effective and time efficient method for reducing both bacterial and chemical pollutants from sewage-containing wastewaters or industrial wastewaters. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.